I would suggest the guy a the paint store is, perhaps, clueless or at least ill-informed.

First of all, if it was peeling, they did something wrong. Advance was partly formulated for excellent adhesion. Any paint that's not put on properly will peel. What exactly have they been doing to these samples to make that happen?

Cabinet Coat is made by a different company, not BM. Lots of people like it but I have never seen it in a paint store and I don't have any experience with it.

I'm no professional ... I just paint A LOT and have done a fair amount of research on paints and products because of that. I've used Advance a fair amount and Aura a bit more but I've been happy with both (and there has been no yellowing that I've noticed with either).

Honestly, between what I've read and what I've experienced I think either product would be fine, but I do think the paint store guy is giving some misinformation.

Here is a link that might be useful: BM info on yellowing paint

This is so discouraging! I have read so many threads and thought that I had a handle on things. I went to the paint store expecting confirmation of my choices and left more confused than ever. This is just too much money to screw up! We can pay to have them "professionally" finished - but I was really hoping to save some money here.

I'm going to take a drive to a different store in another city and see what they say. Should be interesting...

Thanks for your input SG! :-)

I painted my cabinet boxes myself with BM Advance in Vellum semi gloss. When my painter came by to pick up my doors to spray and back brush them (I don't have enough space to spread the doors out to paint them and I have a neighbor with a leaf blowing habit) he said, "The finish on these is like oil paint. With the results you get painting, I don't know why you ever think you have to hire me, but I appreciate the work." He was also impressed that I cut in the ceiling by hand (it's blue against a cream wall but that's a different thread!).

The BM Advance went on super easy and it does self level and has nice open time like oil paint so you can really perfect your finish. I wasn't trying to get a glass like finish, but there isn't a brush stroke in it. The key is to use a very expensive brush and sand lightly between your first and second coat. Sixteen hours to recoat, btw.

It's expensive, but one pint was more than enough to do all my cabinets and have a bit left over.

A while back INSLX was purchased by BM.
This includes their Cabinet Coat and STIX products.

These are fantastic products.
I've raved about Cabinet Coat here before. Feel free to do a search under my user name.

It is made for cabinets and trim. It dries quickly and hard as a rock.

If you do your prep work, which that yellow, peeling door obviously lacked (for any product) paint goes on like butter. As much as I hate to paint, I am not afraid to admit priming with the adhesive primer STIX, then using 2 coats of Cabinet Coat was almost a pleasure.

Why not consider a product made for cabinets specifically? And, if BM bought it, I'd say that's an(other) endorsement.

Is there any advantage to using an oil paint if using a color other than white? Will it wear better than Cabinet Coat or others?

When determining if I wanted to paint my cabinets, I tried out some BM Advance. I did some test cabinet doors (previously stained oak, properly prepared) with a roller. BM Advance is a good product. I decided not to paint my cabinets for other reasons, so the doors have been sitting out in the garage for 6 months, given all kinds of garage-abuse (for instance, used as sawhorse tables for projects), and still look fine! No peel, no chip. Yellow, I couldn't speak to.

My 900 year old painter in New Orleans *insisted* on oil paint - and while the trim looked great, I was glad we didn't live in the house as the odor was unbearable.

That said, with high quality latex semi gloss, a good brush, and proper prep work, I get excellent results.

I'm open to Cabinet-Coat, but I do have one question:

I was lead to believe Cabinet-Coat dries supper fast. While that might be great for getting things done quickly and reducing the amount of dust that might settle, I worry about it being much harder for a novice to do correctly.

Thoughts?

That's surprising. Our paint store, which has a great reputation, highly recommended Advance and, as I wrote before, it was great. No peeling at all...I also thought I read that it was developed specifically to be as durable as oil-based paints, but resolve some of the issues, like VOCs and yellowing. We have yellow cabs, so it wasn't an issue for us, obviously. :)

The low-VOC thing was very important to me...we ordered formaldehyde-free cabinets, as well.

Jeri, you can add an extender to paint to increase the drying time of any waterborne paint. Helps with leveling, too. I've used Floetrol and liked it but others might be better.

Hi,
Correct me if I'm wrong, but early on cabinet coat was only available in very light colors, no deep shades were possible. Moore came out with Advance about two years ago (in my area) and over the summer I finally got to use it. It can be mixed in the full spectrum of colors without any issues.
To me it is a perfect substitute for Dulamel/Impervo oil-based paints. Now, the one place I have not tried it is on bookshelves and double-hung windows, the two situations that always show up the shortcomings of latex's ability to dry to as hard and impervious a finish as oil enamel.
Based on what the paint feels like, it seems like windows and bookshelves will be fine as well.
Advance is a waterborne alkyd, and I believe requires a proprietary additive, not just water or floetrol.
Casey

I went through this debate when I had my cabs painted. BM did buy the cabinet coat mfg a while back so they own the product now. The problem we discovered was the base color had a bit of a green tint to it. The white I used (simply white) looked better in the advance than in cabinet coat. the advance paint is holding up well given mine were sprayed on site. i would have gotten a better paint job if they were not painted on site but that is a long saga shared previously. :)

So BM White Dove will look different in Advance than it would in Cabinet-Coat? Uggg - this gets harder and harder...

I Googled "BM Advance Yellowing" and found posts stating that there will be some yellowing because of the Alkyd in the paint - just not as much as a conventional alkyd. One post said "If a conventional alkyd yellowing were rated a 10 (worst) and a latex a 2 (it will yellow slightly), Advance would be a 4."

Babushka_cat - What is wrong with your current sprayed on finish? My understanding of Advance is that it levels so well you can't even see brush stokes, so I would expect a spray finish to be very smooth. Is this not the case?

Cabinet Coat is still only available in lighter colors.
I've had some color matched, though, and I forget the exact amount it can be darkened but some can be done.

I didn't have any trouble with green tones, thank goodness. I'm having ... BLUE troubles! :) But it's not on my Cabinet Coated pieces.

I would only go with an oil based primer (which is different somehow than oil paint) and the acrylic that is Cabinet Coat. Just love the stuff. I'm so grateful I read all the rave reviews all over the place.

My husband and I have been making our own cabinets so our bottom cabinets have been in for two years now. I used Advance color Linen White. The hood and two upper cabinets were just painted this January and there is no difference in the color. (The old cabinets are not yellowing.) I did not want to use oil because of the yellowing effect. I have four kids so they get dirty and wiped down with no problems!!!!! The cabinets are made out of poplar wood. I sanded, used the Advance primer and paint and love them.

Just had my kitchen professionally spray painted with cabinet coat. There have been problems with several kitchens. My spray painter is taking the kitchen apart and will re do it with the advance paint. I have used advance paint on a desk. It is awesome. Wish the company had used advance in the kitchen. They are fixing it which is great.

I used BM Advance color Chantilly Lace, a white, on our kitchen cabinets. No yellowing at all. Easy to work with in my opinion & factory looking results when sprayed. I'm not a pro. I used it as instructed. Primed with Zinsser BIN which is just as amazing of a product. Love the way it sands super smooth to prep for paint. Turned out perfect and I'm very critical. Brushed and rolled boxes... High density foam roller and Purdys Uniform Flow brushes. Used paint as is for rolling and brushing, no additives needed. You will see brush marks if you use a cheap brush! Pay up and you won't. Never have used cabinet coat. BM Advance is super cleanable and durable... Tested by 2 toddlers, 2 large dogs, and 2 busy adults. Not one flaw yet. Best of luck!

I did my bathroom cabinets with Cabinet Coat, using a foam roller and Purdy brushes. (BIN primer too) Keri is right, don't skimp on brushes, those cheap $ store brushes aren't going to give you the look you want. Bathroom cabinets came out great - no drips or brush marks. Using quality primer, paint, and brushes is absolutely essential to a good result.

To those of you who used BIN primer, did you sand first? When I painted my knotty pine wood room, I called the manufacturer and they told me I did NOT need to sand off the poly first. After two coats of primer, I was pleased with the results, but I know wood walls don't experience a fraction of the use the cabinets will.

My cabinets and trim were painted with Cabinet Coat 10 years ago. It has held up great. There is some very small chips along one of the edges of our most used cabinet door. The others are still perfect. I also recently had another quart mixed of the same color (white dove) and did a few touch up spots where some wall paint had dripped on the trim. Color matched perfectly so no yellowing or other color changes had happened in 10 years.

Keri Baker--I love your pulls and knobs--where did you purchase them?

Thanks mom29stars. They are Allen + Roth polished nickel round knobs from Lowe's. Very affordable. Matching pulls, too.

To add to the confusion, in case anyone is reading this someday - I used CC as my primer and Advance on top.

I painted my builder grade oak cabinets about 6 years ago. They still look great today. I went to the paint store asking about Advance and the guy told me it was a newer product and they recommended CC bc they said they have been selling it for years and never had any complaints. I didn't question the guy. I bought CC, clean and sanded my cabinets and used CC as primer. Then I did two coats of Advance on top of CC. Advance levels beautifully. I'm sure I could have just gotten by with CC but oh well. I'm happy with the results.

Keri- your kitchen look looks gorgeous- great job.

Keri Baker - How did you paint the cabinets? Brush or roller or spray?

Rolled the cabinet boxes and sprayed doors and drawers fronts.

We used (un-tinted) CC on our MB cabinets two years ago. Now that we're working on the kitchen, I went to BM for more paint, and was told that Advance was formulated to take dark pigment. Since we were using the base white, I chose CC again. We sanded and primed the existing cabinets, and rolled on a couple of coats of CC. The new drawer boxes, drawer fronts, and doors are primed, and then get a couple coats of CC too. So far, we're very pleased. I would have liked to spray the doors and drawer fronts, but we are happy enough with brush and foam roller. The real upgrade is converting cabinets to drawer bases, and using soft close slides!

Hi...I have also used BM Advance in simply white on kitchen cabinets that I believe were custom made in plywood in our vacation home. The finish to start with was a very worn out stain. We did sand because (I mistakenly) used chalk paint first and wanted to remove that. I also used Zissner primer. I used the high density foam roller and foam brushes and the finish came out beautiful with no brush marks. It has held up very well and wipes clean very easily with 4 boys and a dog.

I am am now thinking of paining our kitchen in our year around home. It's cheap birch cabinets with veneer (I think). Basically builder grade. I really don't want to sand. I feel like if I were to paint over the shiny finish on my cabinets with the primer it wouldn't adhere well. I pained a key rack (with a shiny finish on it) at the same time I did our vacation home cabinets (did not sand this) and it didn't come out the same...streaky, which is why I am hesitant...Kerry Baker...did you find this as an issue? Was 1 coat of primer sufficient or did you need to do 2 coats of primer?

Apparently my painter had problems with BM Advance for the woodwork in my house so the BM people suggested he switch to the Cabinet Coat. The Advance was running no matter how fine he sprayed it, and it wasn't covering well. I'm thinking it was a bad batch or something.

He's much happier with how the Cabinet Coat is adhering and honestly, I do see the difference. Color matched to BM cotton balls.

Has anyone had any problems with the Cabinet Coat lately? What about VOCs?

CEFreeman, thank you for your endorsement.

Perfect timing for me, this thread. We've replaced our 2'x11' kitchen bench seating area (termite damage -- caught early, but still...), and I just finished priming with Stix. In all my reading, I didn't anticipate how thick the primer would be, fresh out of the can -- my stir stick, jammed into the primer, stood at attention without issue! I contacted INSLX customer svc and was told I could thin with water. I did so, but it was still too thick to level well (I didn't want to exceed the amount of water recommended). I had to sand a fair bit to knock down the ridges. (I've repainted every door, spindle, baseboard and trim in this 26 y/o house of ours by now, using Lowes' American Tradition semi-gloss, and always got a smooth finish.)

I have a can of Cabinet Coat at the ready, but am concerned about obtaining a flat finish: foam roller vs quality brush. How does one keep a wet edge when painting such a large swath, even if the paint levels well? (And I've read CC dries rather quickly.) I'm crossing fingers that CC will be the proper consistency (after a good stirring), so I won't have to worry about buying an extender (such as Floetrol or whatever INSLX might recommend). Whizz high-density foam rollers were recommended on one DIYer's site. Though, she was painting only cabinet door surfaces and wasn't dealing with the surface area of a wall-to-wall bench.

Question to you knowledgeable folks: can INSLX be used to give cabinets a distressed look on edges? thanks

Hi, I did not thin the BM Advance paint or the primer. I do not recall the exact spray gun I used; however, I do know it's no longer available. Honestly, it was super cheap (probably less than $75) and did the job, but I wish I had purchased an HVLP sprayer instead. The finish was okay, but could've been much nicer if I had spent more for a high-quality sprayer. As an update, the cabinet paint is STILL holding up very nicely! Love BM Advance paint :)

does anyone have a comparison of BM Advance with SW Emerald?

BM bought out Cabinet Coat. It’s like an opaque polyurethane so BETTER than paint. I think you can only get it in lighter colors (or at least that’s when BM first bought it which was is 7 or 8 years ago I believe? (Circa 2012-13) no idea if BM reissued their own type under a new name after they bought the company.

I just bought a quart of BM Cabinet Coat in Bittersweet Chocolate and another quart in Hale Navy which are both very dark paint colours. It's only available in satin but that's what I wanted for the pieces of furniture I painted. I thought it was expensive but worthwhile as a DIY'er to get a great result. I used Zinser BIN 123 primer in gray (which is best for darker colours) - use in white for light colours or you'll need to apply extra coats (needless labour time and waste of paint). I keep a Zinser BIN 123 primer in both gray and white on hand - it lasts a very long time as long as the lid is sealed tightly between uses and stirred well before each use.

Just to add to this thread. We used Advance 8 years ago in Simply White on our new cabinets. They initially looked fantastic. It is easy to wash, are cleanable, and are hard. But, they have developed a slight offish yellow, noticeably when put up against true white. We want to do the cabinets again and have tried the Aura and the Advance in Chantilly Lace. The Aura is true to that white, but the Advance has a yellow hue to it. It is noticeable. Now we are not sure we want to go with Advance again because of the yellowing. Looking for another option. The Aura has incredible coverage but is thick so have to be quick. We are painting at 60 degrees and some humidity to slow down drying. I would like to spray it, as it does not flow as well as Advance. But, it is still nice with a quality foam roller or brush.